Insert Title Here
by Khaki
Summary: MWPP/L fic! My first attempt! Heh... this part's really boring. The sorting and all. Please R/R! No flames please.
1. Default Chapter Title

Insert Title Here  
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Part One

Author's Note  
My first shot at writing a fic... Comments and _constructive_ criticism encouraged, while flames are discouraged. This is an MWPP/L fic, so if you don't like those, stay well away! Reviews are desperately wanted, and I will only write more when more reviews come! I really appreciate any ideas and stuff too. Everything that is thought is in _italics_, but so are words that are being stressed. I hope you don't confuse the two. Also a billion thanks to [ Numair][1] for proofreading this! ~ Khaki

Disclaimer  
This is pretty obvious... everything belongs to J.K Rowling unless of course, it doesn't! Simple eh? So you don't need to sue me now, do you? And even if you did, you won't really get anything - I'm poor, you know.

* * *

James glanced around his room one last time to make sure that all his stuff was packed. His muggle clothes felt funny on him - he wasn't used to them. _Couldn't the Ministry have a station built just for Hogwarts students?_ James wondered. He fidgeted as he sat on his bed, and surveyed the room once more. Satisfied with what was before him, he lay down on his bed and sighed. No, not a sigh of unhappiness, but of bottled up excitement. For goodness sakes, he was going to _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!_ What's there not to be excited about? Suddenly, a loud voice from downstairs called, "James! Are you done packing? Mum says we have to go!" "I _know_, Jess! Shut up... " James muttered, getting up heavily. He wasn't done dreaming yet. As he picked up his heavy trunks and a cage that housed his new barn owl named Hiccy.

Once he got downstairs, his grandmother looked at him dolefully, and commented, "James, you need a haircut," and ruffled his hair affectionately. Then she hugged James really tightly. So tightly, that James was gasping for breath. "Gran, get offa me!" he said as he tried to wriggle out of his grandmother's grasp. "Now now dear... don't be rude. You better hurry up now!" his mother reprimanded him. James's mother picked up his bags, and heaved them into the car with his dad waiting inside. He waved at his sister, grinning from ear to ear while the car sped off. _Next destination - King's Cross Station!_ he thought.

***

Lily was extremely excited about going to Hogwarts. She heard it was one of the most famous wizarding schools in the entire world. She wondered what a witch's life would be like. From the stories she read when she as younger, they were all old, haggard and ugly. They lived in houses made out of sweets and pastries and they ate children for dinner. She wringed her hands nervously, and wondered if she would turn out to be like that when she grew up. Glancing at her watch, she realised it was about time to go. She yelled, "Mum! Dad! It's time to go!" She heard shuffling of feet down the stairs and saw her sister, Petunia, dressed and scowling. Lily stared. "I thought you weren't going?" "Well, yes, I wasn't going. But mum and dad wanted me to go," Petunia sneered. She turned toward the door stiffly, opened it, and said sarcastically, "There you go, m'lady!" Lily just glared at her.  
"Right."  
"And? Aren't you going to thank your dear sister?"  
"No."  
Petunia shot a poisonous look at Lily. At that moment, their parents came trooping down the stairs. "Time to go, sister darling!" Petunia said in a tone dripping with sarcasm. The whole family piled into the car and sped of toward King's Cross Station.

***

James heaved his horribly heavy bags into the station, swearing under his breath. He wondered if there was a spell to make the bag lighter. Suddenly he spotted the barrier, and with a grunt of effort, he barged into it, half expecting to crash into the wall - but no. He emerged at a platform marked Platform 9 and 3/4. A scarlet steam engine with the words "Hogwarts Express" written in gold on it's side. Clouds of steam billowed from the side, which made the train looking very majestic.

As James was staring goggle-eyed at the train while boarding it, he bumped into someone. "I'm sorry," he said as he looked up. "By the way, I'm James Potter. Nice to meet you,"  
"And I'm Sirius Black. You a first year too?"  
"Yup. Can I sit with you on the train?"  
"Yeah, okay."

And they sat down together on the train. Then, a weak and small looking boy came in. He looked nervous and jumpy, and had a rattish look to him. "Hi, I'm Sirius Black. What's your name? Which year are you in?" The rattish boy answered in a squeaky voice, "Hi. I'm Peter Pettigrew. I'm in the first year." Peter sat down beside Sirius, and Siruius winced. "They shouldn't make these seats three seaters... I wouldn't stuck with him," Sirius jerked his head toward Peter. As if Peter overheard Sirius, he chirped, "All the other cars were full. Yours was the only one free..." After Peter said that, a girl with red hair burst into the compartment, panting. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I was kind of late... I couldn't find the barrier." She plopped down in front of James.  
"Oh, hi, I'm Lily Evans. And you are...?"  
"I'm James Potter. Nice to meet you."  
"And don't forget _me_... I'm Sirius Black."  
"Are you pure blood?"  
"No, I'm muggle born, I guess."  
"_I'm_ pure blood."  
"Shut up, Sirius."  
"Hey! Don't get touchy..."  
"Stop it you two, you're behaving like five-year-olds!"

Only Peter kept quiet and reserved. Then, the witch with the snacks rolled her cart into their compartment.  
"Anything, boys?" she asked in a strange accent.  
"Well, yes... can I have that and that and..."  
"Sirius! Can you even _eat_ all that?"  
"No! I'm buying for everyone! 'Cept of course, Petey boy here. I'm sure he can afford this, right?"  
"Sirius..." Lily said warningly.  
With that he paid for their sweets. So the three (or should it be four?) sat there enjoying their candy. Sirius was stuffing his face with Chocolate Frogs and James on the other hand, was picking out Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Jelly Beans to eat. So far, he had a grape flavoured one, a strawberry flavoured one, and... a mud flavoured one. He spat that out of the window.  
"Do you think they allow Filibuster Fireworks in the Hogwarts dormitories?" asked Sirius rather innocently.  
"Um... what are 'Filibuster Fireworks'?" Lily said, looking at Sirius curiously.  
"Well, they're _things_." James answered rather uncomfortably.  
"Things? What kind of things?" Lily pressed.  
"Ah! I know. They're things that people use to build the foundations of a building!"  
"Really?"  
"Well, no. I was lying."  
"Then? I want to know!"  
Then Peter spoke up. "Um... Filibuster F..Fi..re..works... are... um..."  
"Shut up, Peter. You don't know anything," Sirius said, obviously showing an annoyance for the boy.  
"Sirius! Can't you at least be _nice_?" Lily said, irritated with the boys. "And I _still_ don't know what a Filibuster Firework thingy is," Lily concluded with her arms folded.  
"Well _sorry_ Miss High-And-Mighty, this _is_ the way we talk, you know. If you can't deal with it, SHUT UP," James said, butting into the conversation. "Fine! I'll leave! Boys suck anyway." And she gathered up her things and went into another compartment.

A voice came over the loudspeaker, saying, "We'll be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. Students are to leave their luggage in the train. Those will be taken to school seperately." While the boys were changing, James said, "Which house do you think you'll go to, Sirius?" "Hmm... I don't know. But I do hope I go to Gryffindor. It sounds the best." "You're not brave enough..." "Me? Not brave? Ha ha... what a joke you can crack..."

***

Lily was very nervous. From what she had heard from people, the first years had to go through some test of some sort before they would be sorted into their houses. She was muggle born and she knew next to nothing about magic! She gripped her wand tightly in her hands, praying for the whole thing to be over soon. As the students stepped out of the train, there was as huge hairy guy standing at a corner, waving and calling, "Firs'-years! Firs' years over here!" All the first years rushed toward the calling figure. "Any more firs'-years? No? Good! C'mon! Everyone follow me!" The huge hairy man lit a lamp as night was falling, and led the way.

The path was full of sticks and stones, and a good number of people tripped over them, slowing down the whole procession. "Hurry up there!" the huge hairy guy said. When they turned round a final corner, the path stopped abruptly. In front was a huge lake, with boats in it. When everyone looked up, they could see the huge castle of Hogwarts towering over them. And when I say huge, I _mean_ huge. "Ta cross the lake, everyone get into a boat! No more'n four to one!" he called. There was a mad scramble to get into the boats. On the huge hairy man's "forward", all the boats moved off at once, across the lake, as if they had a mind of it's own. Lily was sure she had shared the boat with three other students, but she didn't really care for them. She was nervous, and she was afraid she would fall off the boat. She gripped it's sides tightly. Most people who weren't scared by the horrifying speed (to Lily, it was horrifying) were looking up overhead, pointing at the great majestic castle that was Hogwarts. As they neared, people started standing up to get a better look. The huge hairy man suddenly cried out, "Heads down! EVERYONE!" And everyone sat down in an instant, except for Peter, who apparently didn't hear the man. He hit his head on a cliff that they were nearing, and fainted. When they finally reached the bank, the huge hairy guy carried Peter's limp body and splashed him with water. Peter sputtered and woke up.

The huge hairy guy brought them up to the castle doors and knocked three times. A tall, black haired witch in green robes opened the door, and the huge hairy guy said, "Professor McGonagall, the firs' years..." "Thank you, Hagrid... I'll take them from here." The whole crowd of first years rushed in excitedly. Professor McGonagall then explained about The Sorting, houses, and stuff, then she left, leaving the nervous first years behind her.  
"How are we going to be sorted?"  
"I don't know... my brother said it would hurt!"  
Lily overheard a conversation of two people. _It would hurt? Do we need to do magic in front of the WHOLE SCHOOL?_ She was muggle born for goodness sakes! She knew next to nothing about magic! Lily looked around to see how other people were reacting, when she spotted James and Sirius talking to a rather meek looking boy. She hurried over, and James scowled. Sirius ignored James, and introduced the boy, "This is Remus. Remus, Lily. Lily, Remus." Lily waved, while Remus smiled weakly. Everyone started chatting about The Sorting, and Professor McGonagall burst into the room. "Hurry up, The Sorting is about to start! Form a line and follow me!" Everyone formed a line, and followed mutely.

***

_Oh god... this isn't happening._ James took a deep breath, and exhaled. When they stepped into the Great Hall, he almost fell over in surprise. It was GIGANTIC. The whole place was splendid looking. Everything looked elegant and nothing was out of place. _What if they make us Transfigure something? I can't do Transfiguration!_ James thought wildly. As he was blinking to clear his mind, he spotted a tattered and frayed hat on a four legged stool in front of them. That couldn't be the sorting hat... could it? It looked so old and dirty... then the hat twitched. A mouth formed, and the hat began to sing a funny song. Some people sitting at the tables giggled when the hat stopped singing, and everyone burst into a rousing applause. "So which house do you think you can go to?" James whispered rather loudly to Sirius, who was standing in front of him. "I don't know! I think it runs in the family, I heard..." Sirius whispered hurriedly. James started wondering. His father was in Gryffindor, while his mother was in Ravenclaw... so which house would he go to?

Professor McGonagall stepped up, and announced to the first years, "I will call your name, and you will put on the hat and sit on the stool until you're sorted!" James nodded mutely, and just stared. He may have come from a magical family, but he was nervous all the same. He didn't dare ask his parents exactly what would happen. "Aster, Reine!" Came the first name. The boy named Reine hobbled toward the hat, and sat down. He had a small frame, and the hat fell right over his head. After a few seconds, the hat cried out, "RAVENCLAW!" The Ravenclaw table erupted in cheers.  
"Akine, Rose!"  
"Hufflepuff!"  
And it went on and on and on... until it came to James. Sirius ended up in Gryffindor. James walked toward the hat rather stiffly, put it on, and sat down on the stool. The hat was huge, and covered his eyes. "Well well!" The hat said. "It seems that you are a very brave person... but you're rather clever too! Should I put you in Ravenclaw?" James silently said no... he wanted to go to Gryffindor! As if the hat heard his prayers, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" And the Gryffindor table erupted into cheers. He beamed, and waved at Sirius. He plopped down next to Sirius and said, "Whew! I thought I was going to Ravenclaw for a second there..." "Well, you're in Gryffindor now!" Sirius cried, and patted his friend on the back. They both lay back in their seats, and watched the rest of the first years get sorted. Remus and Lily both ended up in Gryffindor, and both of them trudged down to the Gryffindor table and plopped down beside Harry and Sirius. For Peter amazingly, it took a whole 10 minutes for the hat to decide which house he should go to. Suddenly, the hat cried out, "Gryffindor!" Sirius fell of his chair in shock.

* * *

Author's Note *again?*  
Wee! Part One down! I'll be starting on Part Two soon... oh, and Merry Late Christmas everyone! Heh heh. I'll try to write longer chapters next time. I know this part's pretty boring, because everything's standardized. I'm sorry if it sounded horribly similar to the first HP book - I had it open in my lap and I was refering to it continously. I just can't remember things off the top of my head... so watch out for Part Two soon! Well, only if you guys review. So please! REVIEW! I love reviews. It brightens up my day. :) But if you want to keep yours private, you can email me at [aphro3214@hotmail.com][2] to give me comments. 'Kay? ~ Khaki

   [1]: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=directory-authorProfile&userid=29278
   [2]: mailto:aphro3214@hotmail.com



	2. Default Chapter Title

Insert Title Here  
---  
Part Two

Author's Note  
Thanks for the reviews! I love reviews! Now it's on to Part Two! Woopee! Heh. REMEMBER to review! This part is a little short... read the A/N below to find out why. Thanks _again_ to [ Numair][1] for proofreading this! ~ Khaki

Thanks  
Thanks to sirius'gal for pointing out the "Harry and Sirius" bit... I made Numair proofread it, but apparently even she didn't spot it. Eep. *hides in a corner*  
Thanks to Numair for that wonderful poem thingy... no, I didn't realise I made James's sister Jessie. Eep.

Disclaimer  
I told you before... DON'T SUE ME. Nothing belongs to me. My brain doesn't belong to me. One is glad to be of service. *takes a bow* *leaves*

* * *

_... Sirius fell of his chair in shock._

"Sirius!" Lily cried as he fell out of his chair. Lily got out of her seat and helped Sirius up. "You all right?" she asked. "Yeah, I am..." Sirius mumbled as he dusted himself and sat back down on his chair. Just at that moment, Peter came running toward the table and plopped down beside Remus. Remus grimaced, and shifted his chair a little away. Peter then began talking at top speed, relating what happened while he was on the stool getting sorted. Everyone groaned. James tried to ignore the endless chatter and concentrated on the sorting. A couple more students were made Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, and they started to sing the Hogwart's school song. Everyone sang to different tunes and finished at different times. Sirius, who had brought with him a Filibuster Firework, set it off the moment the song ended. Everyone stared at him, and James blushed a deep shade of red. "Don't embarrass me in front of everyone! I'm sitting with you, you know... they'd think I _know_ you!" James shuddered, but Sirius just grinned his goofy smile.

After that, the feast started and delicious food filled the gold plates in front of them. James tucked in and for the first time, realised how hungry he was. There was lots of food, and the plates automatically refilled themselves after you finished with them. By the time everyone was due to go up to their dorms, he was full to bursting. Everyone lined up and followed the prefect to their dorm. The moment James lay down on his bed, he fell asleep straight away.

***

Lily yawned. She glanced at her watch and realised that it was time for breakfast, and hurriedly washed up and dressed, then made her way downstairs toward The Great Hall. On her way down, she met Sirius, James, Remus and Peter. "Mornin' people..." Lily said as she yawned. "It's not ladylike to yawn so loudly, you know," teased James. "I don't give a damn, really," Lily shot back. "PMS-y, eh?" Sirius grinned. "Stop making fun of me..." Lily grumbled. "Someone's touchy today," Remus commented, smiling at Lily.

Breakfast wasn't as good as the day before, but it was much better than what her mum would prepare. Everyone ate in silence, mostly because the food was too good. The silence was broken once in a while with Peter's chewing.  
"Shut up, Peter..." mumbled Sirius. Peter stopped eating.  
"What? I wasn't making any noise!"  
"Stop chewing with your mouth open." James said.  
"Why?"  
"It's disgusting and rude." Lily added.  
"And it makes you sound like a pig!" Remus said, making pig noises after that. Everyone cracked up, even Peter, who was laughing so hard the food in his mouth flew everywhere. "Eeeww!" everyone exclaimed. "Sorry..." Peter said meekly, and everyone lunged at him.

***

The first class that day was double potions with the Slytherins. Their potions master was an aged old witch with a temper, named Professor Farnee, but everyone called her Farty, so it wasn't difficult to remember. James wanted to set off a Dungbomb in the dungeons, but Remus said it would be better to give a good impression on the first day. James reluctantly agreed, while Sirius said it was a waste of a perfectly good opportunity.

The dungeon was noisy. You could hear the noise about two levels up from the dungeons. Of course, the sound was mostly coming from the Slytherin's side. Suddenly, the door of the dungeon opened, and old Farty swept into the room. Everyone immediately shutted up - everyone was afraid of Farty's temper... who knows if she was in a good or bad one now? James kind of pitied the Slytherins for having her as head of house, but let the feeling pass - after all, the Slytherins deserved it. Farty took the attendance before beginning class.  
"Potter!" She barked. "Do you know what a mackhamony is?"  
"Um, no."  
"Stand up when you're talked to!" James stood up, and realised that a boy with black greasy hair and a hooked nose was laughing at him. He turned red in fury, but kept his anger from showing further.  
"No, Professor," he said again.  
"You couldn't be bothered to spend time reading school books?! Five points off Gryffindor for your insolence, Potter!" James sat down. _What a horrible start... argh._ And he stared in front of him, brows furrowed, for the rest of the class. He was lucky they were doing any practical stuff yet - he would have been caught daydreaming.

***

After Potions was over, and the Marauders and Lily were on their way to their next class, Transfiguration.  
"God! That was my first lesson, and I'm off to such a bad start..." James complained. Then he added, "Do you guys think it's a bad omen?"  
"Well, no, I don't think it's a bad omen, James," Remus piped up. "You haven't seen _bad_ luck yet... and I don't think you would want to."  
"Let's talk about something else... this Potions thing is driving me up the wall..."  
"Literally, James? I think I know a spell which I can use to drive you up the wall."  
"Sirius!"  
"Okay, okay..." And they sped off at the direction of the Transfigurations classroom.

***

Professor McGonagall had an air of authority around her. Everyone knew that she was in charge, and everyone was silent when she spoke. She took attendance, then proceeded with an explanation on how difficult Transfiguration was. She transfigured the teacher's desk into a lizard, and back again. Everyone oohed and ahhed at the sight. She then gave everyone a matchstick and told them to change it into a needle. She paired everyone up, and James ended up with Lily while Sirius ended up with Remus. (A/N: I could care less about Peter since everyone hates him and all, but...) Peter ended up with some other guy in Gryffindor that the Marauders didn't recognise. Lily went first, and she pointed her wand at the matchstick and said, "_Inaium Dreagarious!_" Nothing happened. Lily tried again, this time saying, "_Inraiut Dregaris!_" The desk they were working on wobbled, and turned into a beetle. "Oh my GOSH!" Lily shrieked. Professor McGonagall saw what happened and immediately rushed over and turned the desk back into a desk. James was on the floor laughing. He couldn't stop. Lily glared at him. Why, it was just a small mistake! The nerve! And he dared to laugh at me? As James slowly stopped laughing and stood up, Lily shot a murderous look at him, and he said, "You said it all wrong Lily, watch me!" James pointed his wand at the matchstick and said, "_Inarium Dreagarkius!_" The matchstick turned into a needle. Professor McGonagall saw James succeed in his task, and awarded Gryffindor ten points for his effort. James smiled smugly at Lily, while she just stuck her tongue out at him.

***

"I can't believe we got so much homework! After all, it's our first day, you know..." grumbled Sirius.  
"What did you expect then, huh?" Lily sneered.  
"Well, I thought we shouldn't have homework on the first day..." said James.  
"You know what? They should ban homework forever," added Remus.  
"Lily wants to do HOMEWORK?!" Peter exclaimed.  
"Well maybe I do! Then why the heck did I come to Hogwarts anyway?" screamed Lily. Everyone else turned to look. "Erm, sorry..." she mumbled, and her face turned red.  
"Hey _chill_, guys. It's just _homework_," Sirius said in disgust. "And Lily, with that attitude of yours, you'll never get anywhere. I mean look. This is the first day, and all I said was I can't believe that we got so much homework. You don't need to flare up like _that_!"  
"Well Mister Happy-Go-Lucky, not _everyone_ is cheerful today, so bug-off!" With that, Lily stomped away and sat furthest away from the Marauders. James shrugged. "Weeird... she's behaving strangely. She's either PMS-ing, or she's pissed off at me for embarrassing her in front of the class today." "Maybe I should go after her?" asked Remus. "She'll be fine Remus," Sirius sniggered. "It's not like she'll die without our, ahem, _manly_ protection now would she?"  
"I know!" James said. "She needs fish!" The three Marauders stared at him and asked in unison, "FISH?" James frowned, and said, "Why? Yes, duh. Fish! She needs foul smelling fish... we need to cheer her up see. And we need foul smelling fish. You see, I saw this spell in a spell book earlier today when we were in the library." The Marauders stared at him. "Are you feeling okay, James?" Sirius said, feeling James's forehead. "Yes, I _am_," he said irritably, brushing Sirius's hand off. "After dinner, we're going to make the potion." James said, grinning evilly before tucking into his dinner.

* * *

Author's Note *again?*  
Okay, I'm done. I wanted to leave all of you at a cliffhanger, so I stopped here. I could go on and on if you wanted me to though. PLEASE REVIEW! If you want to keep yours private, you can email me at [aphro3214@hotmail.com][2] to give me comments. 'Kay? ~ Khaki

   [1]: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=directory-authorProfile&userid=29278
   [2]: mailto:aphro3214@hotmail.com



	3. Default Chapter Title

Insert Title Here  
---  
Part Three

Author's Note  
Sorry for this being late... I didn't feel like writing it. Eee. LOL... Thanks to all who reviewed! I know it's kind of little, but I loved every one! [Numair][1] proofread this and I am forever grateful. *kowtows* ~ Khaki

Disclaimer  
Let's look at it this way: I own everything. Every word. You can't sue me. I'm bankrupt. Thank you.

* * *

_ "After dinner, we're going to make the potion." James said, grinning evilly before tucking into his dinner._

The three hurriedly wolfed down their dinner, and left The Great Hall. As they ran up, Peter couldn't catch up because of his humongous size, and they had to stop quite a few times just to wait for Peter to catch his breath. They raced up to the boys' dormitory to seek refuge.  
"Peter, you _have_ to lose weight. HONESTLY," said James. "Anyway, we have to cheer Lily up, don't we? She's behaving really odd - I mean I only embarrassed her in front of the whole class... well no. She embarrassed herself in front of the whole class."  
"James, how are we going to get fish?" prodded Sirius.  
"I'm not sure... I think I can get my uncle to send us some. He's eccentric... and he got lots of fish," replied James.  
"Maybe... but how's he going to transport the fish?"

***

_ Dear Uncle Patooty,  
I'm James! Your favourite nephew!   
I'm at Hogwarts now see, and we need a fish. Just any  
old fish. We need it immediately. Can you arrange for  
a fish to arrive by tomorrow night? Thanks a LOT!_

_ James_

***

Lily was still avoiding the boys, but her mood apparently changed. She was cheerful all morning... she also seemed to have made two new friends. Owl post arrived shortly, and there was one for James. James opened it, and the other three Marauders crowded round to read. It said:

_ Dear James,  
The fish for you has been arranged! What   
did you say the fish was for again? Anyway, I'm sure   
you have been a good boy and deserve your fish! I'm   
happy that you showed an interest in collecting fish...   
if you have any problems, just owl me anytime! Your   
fish will arrive at 11pm in the Gryffindor fireplace. _ ("FIREPLACE?!")

_Uncle Patooty_

"All right!" Sirius said, pumping the air with his fist.  
"Can you tell me again why we're so enthusiastic about this?"  
"Because it's fun?"  
"No, besides that."  
"Nothing else. Even though this _is _for Lily, I could care less..."  
"One thing, James. Don't take any offense to this, but your um... Uncle Patooty needs some recuperating in a mental hospital."  
"I know... he's a bit... crazy."  
"One thing: We know next to nothing about potions," Remus piped up.  
"I _do_ remember the recipe... everything else can be found in the student's cupboard where the ingredients are stored."  
"So when do we start?"  
"I think now, maybe? I mean everyone else is asleep... and it's going to be 11 anyway. I'll go take the ingredients while you all wait in the common room," said James as he sped off to get his ingredients.

***

James rushed back as soon as he got the ingredients. "Is the fish here yet?" James asked Sirius. "Yup," Sirius replied, pointing to a fish about 5 inches long lying on the floor. "Do you think it's too small?" asked Remus. "Nah..." And the Marauding four began to stir their potion.  
"Remus, hand me the butterwort roots please." Remus handed over the butterwort roots. But as Sirius was about to drop _half_ of the butterwort in, James accidentally knocked into Sirius, and sent the whole butterwort into the cauldron.  
"Oops," James said as he grinned sheepishly.  
"JAMES! What if the potion goes wrong?"  
"It looks fine... I think it's all right. Don't worry."  
It was late into the night (or should I say "early in the morning"?) when they finished the potion. James poured out what was left in the cauldron into a cup. The potion sizzled. "Wow..." breathed Sirius. "I can't believe we made it!" "We'll all wake up extra early tomorrow, and put this into Lily's food and orange juice... she wouldn't know what hit her!" suggested James.

***

The next morning, the four woke up extremely early, and trooped down to The Great Hall. James was holding the small cup. "Don't spill it," Sirius warned. "We spent the whole morning doing it..." "I knew that," retorted James, as he pretended to lose grip on the cup. "HEY!" Remus yelled. "Don't worry... just kidding," James said with an evil grin. When they reached The Great Hall, there were only one or two early birds there. The Griffyndors tended to sit at the same place everyday, and the marauding four knew where Lily was currently sitting. They went to her seat as casually as they could, and tipped the contents of the cup into her food. There was a soft sizzling sound, then it stopped. They all gave each other hi-fives. With that, they went back to the Gryffindor common room and awaited to the time when Lily went down for breakfast. They lazed around playing wizard's chess and doing homework. The moment they spotted Lily coming down the stairs from the girls dorm, they quickly ran down to The Great Hall.

They sat down and started eating, all awaiting for the effect of the potion they brewed. As Lily started to take her first bite of breakfast, the four leaned over the table and tilted their chairs forward. Peter, being a bit (okay, a lot) on the heavy side, tilted a bit too far, and he crashed to the ground. Sirius sniggered. At that moment, a boy with greasy hair and a hooked nose - which James remembered for laughing the longest during Potions when he messed up - came over and sneered, "Hey fatass. Too big for your chair, are you?" He laughed, and kicked Peter in the shins when he finally got up. Peter slumped down again. The boy then turned and walked away, laughing.

Just then, Lily came over, and she smiled. "Hey guys, I feel so weird today... so cheerful, so odd. I'm usually not a cheerful person. Oh well." She grinned. "I hope we get no homework today... that means we can rest, can't we?" And she skipped ("Oh my god... I thought we all outgrew that phase!") back to her place and finished eating. "Bye guys!" she waved as she sped toward the common room. "See you later!" James and Sirius glanced at each other, and burst out laughing. "That worked!" James said, between fits of laughter.

***

"Uh oh... lesson with Farty," James complained as he looked at his watch. "We all know you have a certain... _affection_ for Farty, now don't we boys?" Sirius said jokingly. James just threw a murderous glare at Sirius and Remus (who was cracking up, by the way) and said nothing. Everyone was already at class, and it seemed that our trio (exculding Peter because he didn't want to get murdered by Farty and ran the whole way, which was a great accomplishment for someone as big as him) were late. "James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin late for class, eh? Ten points from Gryffindor each!" the monster bellowed. "I expect to see you three on Wednesday night... meet me in the trophy room." "Yikes... she means detention!" James whispered, and he walked stifly toward his seat. He glanced at Lily, and saw her beaming from ear to ear.

That day, the first years were learning how to do a very simple potion for making curing athlete's foot. Farty put them in pairs, and they started working. James was lucky, and ended up with Sirius. Remus was having a hard time with Lily as she kept on smiling and beaming. The Slytherins were starting to think she was a tad crazy and stared at her often. Sirius beamed. James started working on their potion. Halfway through the potion making, there was a stifled scream from Remus and Lily. It so happened that Lily was giggling uncontrollably, and when Remus leaned over the cauldron to stop her from giggling any more, the cauldron tipped and its contents flowed out. Everyone hopped on stools when they saw the blue-green fluid coming toward them. A boy named Adreleus wasn't quick enough, and had to go to the medical wing. Farty quickly did a spell which cleared everything up. At that point, Lily was howling with laughter, and Farty stared at her with fury. "LILY EVANS!" she boomed. "COME HERE AT ONCE!" Lily stumbled toward the very angry professor and stopped laughing. She looked up at her innocently, then started laughing again. "20 POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR FOR YOUR CHEEK, MISS EVANS!" At that point, class was dismissed.

***

As the students filed out of the dungeon, there was a lot of talk about Lily's strange behavior. Lily, on the other hand, acted indifferent, and was smiling all the way to the Gryffindor common room. "I think there's something wrong with the potion... you think?" James whispered to Sirius. "I think we put a tad too much butterwort..." "Or maybe the fish wasn't top grade?" Remus piped up. James shrugged, and with furrowed brows, the three walked toward the Gryffindor Common Room.

Once in the common room, James announced to Sirius and Remus that he would have to go to the library... he wanted to know if they did anything wrong, and they seriously needed a counter spell. Remus offered to go along, while Sirius refused - he needed to finish up his homework.

***

Once in the library, the two started flipping through books that pertained to the subject of "cheering up". They searched for hours, pulling out books and flipping through them, then putting them back again. It was a tedious task. Finally, there was a small scream from Remus, and James rushed over. Remus pointed to a paragraph in an old an faded book. It read:

_Cheering Spells  
Cherring spells are not cheering charms. They have a longer and more   
lasting effect on the person it effects. In a way, it is also much more dangerous.  
There is a counter potion for this, but it is quite hard to do as the ingredients   
are hard to come by._

Below that paragraph, there was a list of ingredients and how they were supposed to make the spell. They took the book, and brought it up to the common room for Sirius to see.  
On seeing the spell, Sirius said, "We're saved! We're saved! After that incident in Potions, teachers will be bound to take notice... I'm sure of it. We need to brew the counter potion right away before anyone else notices!"  
"Where are we going to get the ingredients though?" asked Remus.  
"Look... the _Forteli Root_ and the _Tralis Fig Nut_ are only available in Hogsmeade, and everyone knows first years aren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade."  
"There _must_ be a secret passage here _somewhere_..."  
"There could be. We musn't rule out that possiblity."

* * *

Author's Note *again?*  
Will Sirius, James and Remus discover the secret passage to Hogsmeade? Find out in Part Four! This part went along longer than I expected, but it's still pretty short... but the same plea still stands: PLEASE REVIEW! If you want to keep yours private, you can email me at [aphro3214@hotmail.com][2] to give me comments. 'Kay? ~ Khaki

   [1]: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=directory-authorProfile&userid=29278
   [2]: mailto:aphro3214@hotmail.com



	4. Default Chapter Title

Insert Title Here  
---  
Part Four

Author's Note  
Eee... this is just about the longest time I went without writing a fic! *hides* WHY OH WHY don't people review my story? *sniffles* I feel... HATED! *sob* But if you did review, I'm very very thankful for it, as you gave me the want to write more. So please **please** _please_ please PLEASE review! *gets on her knees and begs* Thank you. Also, thanks to [Numair][1] who proofread this ~ Khaki

NOTE: I messed up the Cheering Spells description in Part Three. Here is the revised version:

_ Cheering Spells  
Cheering spells are _not_ cheering charms. They have a longer and more  
lasting effect on the person it effects. In a way, it is more dangerous.  
The counter potion for this is extremely unstable, and it's very easy   
to mess up._

P/S: Don't expect fics any time soon, as school starts on Jan 2 and I really have not much time on the computer! Sorry to all who really liked to read the series! Hooray to all who hate it! Oh, and I just realised. Anyone notice that James, Sirius, and Remus end with an "s" while Peter doesn't? Heh heh.

Disclaimer  
I don't own anything. Do you?

* * *

_Below that paragraph, there was a list of ingredients and how they were supposed to make the spell. They took the book, and brought it up to the common room for Sirius to see.  
On seeing the spell, Sirius said, "We're saved! We're saved! After that incident in Potions, teachers will be bound to take notice... I'm sure of it. We need to brew the counter potion right away before anyone else notices!"  
"Where are we going to get the ingredients though?" asked Remus.  
"Look... the _ForteliRoot_ and the _Tralis FigNut_ are only available in Hogsmeade, and everyone knows first years aren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade."  
"There must be a secret passage here somewhere..."  
"There could be. We mustn't rule out that possibility."_

***

One day, while James, Remus and Sirius was walking past the third floor corridor back to the Gryffindor Common Room for a free period, a group of fifth year Slytherins rushed past them, knocking them toward the side. James was thrown back against a statue shaped like a one-eyed witch ("Young 'uns... always rowdy!" the witch exclaimed), and it hurt his back. As Sirius and Remus were about to help James up, they spotted a piece of old and tattered parchment (which was glowing at the moment) beneath the statue.  
"Hey, what's that?" Remus said, pointing at the parchment.  
"I don't know... it doesn't look like any parchment we have."  
"It glows!" Sirius exclaimed, while the other tree shushed him up.  
"What if other people spot it!" Remus whispered hoarsely.  
"They won't! The parchment is glowing for us only... it wants to be spotted by US... not anyone else!" James said, lighting up.  
"How're _you_ to know..." Remus grumbled.  
Sirius, being the strongest of the three, helped to tilt the statue ("HEY! Watch it young man..." shrieked the one-eyed witch not very loudly) while Remus took the piece of parchment, which stopped glowing. James commented, "The witch talks... I didn't know statues could talk like portraits do." "Who cares..." muttered Remus, while he stared intently at the piece of parchment he was holding. "What's so interesting? Sirius asked, shoving James aside to look over Remus's shoulder. "Hey!" James cried out, offended that he didn't get a chance to look at the parchment. "What's it say?" he asked. Remus handed James the parchment. On it in an flowing script, was the word _dissendium_.

At that moment, James got an idea. He whipped out his wand, and tapped the witch ("Ouch! Softer there, young man!") and said _dissendium_. Almost at once, the statue's hump opened wide enough to admit a fairly thin person. The three Marauders glanced up and down the corridor to make sure no one was looking. Then, they quickly scrambled in.

***

As James crawled into the tiny hole, he felt a wave of terror. No, not the there-is-bad-down-there type of terror. Just... worried, maybe. Once he stepped inside the witch's hump, he felt as if he was sliding down a stone cold slide. Well, it was cold. When they reached the ground, there seemed to be a tunnel that went this way and that. "Lumos," James said, making the end of his wand glow. Sirius and Remus hearing James, followed suit. Not long after, there were three glowing lights, bobbing up and down in the darkness.

When they came to a bend, the tunnel opened into a wide space, like a dungeon. The whole place smelled musty and there was dust everywhere. James sneezed. "Shut up! What if there are people around here?" Sirius hissed. "Sorry..." At that moment, they saw a streak of sunlight come through an opening in a ceiling not far away. "Quick! Hide!" James whispered, pushing both Remus and Sirius behind a big crate full of somethings. They heard a female voice say, "Sure thing! I'll just bring it up right now," and heard a grunt of effort, and saw the figure disappear through the trapdoor. "Lucky we have free period..." James heard Sirius mumble, as they got up from their uncomfortable sitting position. As Remus was getting up, he accidentally knocked over a crate. It crashed to the floor, and one of lots of sweets ("SWEETS?") tumbled out from it. "Honeydukes!" Sirius cried, and stuffed his pockets full of the sweets. "Um, Sirius, this is called stealing..." Remus said warningly. "Well, it fell out - oh all right." Reluctantly, he threw back the sweets into the already fallen crate. "I think it's best to leave the crate alone, you think? The trio stood up, and made their way to the trapdoor. Sirius opened it, and they were greeted by a sight of Honeydukes and it's rows of sweets. They were lucky the trapdoor was tucked away in a little corner of the shop, lest the shopkeeper see them. Remus poked his head from the corner, and motioned for the other two to follow. They ducked and hid and finally, made their way out of Honeydukes.

***

"Free at last!" Sirius exclaimed, panting as they got out of Honeydukes. Remus however, frowned, and looked at his watch. "We have less than an hour before Potions start..." "Ew..." James said, wrinkling his nose. "Farty..." Sirius broke out in fits of laughter. "I know my way around here real well... I think you two wait here, while I go get the stuff, 'kay? Plus, I look... taller." Sirius smirked. James was apprehensive, and retorted, "Hey! We're your friends you know... you can't get all the credit for curing Lily, can you?" Sirius just smiled, turned around and walked away, Remus and James scampering after him. "I think Sirius has a crush on Lily, you think?" Remus asked, sniggering.

They followed Sirius to a small and dusty looking shop. Before he went in, he drew himself up tall, and put on a really fake smile. He opened the door, and Remus sneezed from the dust again. ("Sensitive nose...") They went in, and saw lots of stuff, from tree trunks (really huge) to tiny glittering beetle eyes. Sirius walked majestically toward the shopkeeper, with Remus and James close behind him. He bravely asked the shopkeeper if they stocked Forteli Roots and Tralis Fig Nuts. The shopkeeper was blind, and thankfully, didn't notice that all three of them were first years from Hogwarts. He told them where the items were, and the Marauders pooled their money to buy it. Not long after, they exited the shop, with their precious spell ingredients in their hands. James groaned. "I don't have any money left, except 5 knuts! Geez..." Remus looked at him mock-sadly, and said, "I share your pain, brother," then he burst out laughing.

The trio waited until the shopkeeper had gone to the backroom to do some accounting before stepping into Honeydukes. "Shhh!" Sirius hissed as Remus sneezed. They went around the bend in the shop, opened the trapdoor, and was gone. As they were going down the steps leading from the trapdoor to the dungeon itself, Remus tripped and fell, falling into the dust below. His nose was now bloody (he landed on his nose), and his robes were dusty. "Get up Remus!" James said as he helped his poor friend up. He handed Remus a piece of tissue to wipe the blood away. They trudged through the layer of dust, and back into the musty tunnel. Once again, three glowing lights were seen bobbing up and down in the darkness. They had problems going upward to the witch, but eventually, they managed to, and clambered out. James tapped the witch and said _Dissendium _again, and the hump closed.

***

Out of pure habit, James glanced down at his watch, and gasped in surprise. They were late for potions! They quickly rushed up to the Gryffindor Common Room to gather their things, and rushed down again to the dungeons. By the time they got there, the three were panting like dogs (pun intended, in the case of Sirius, heh heh). When they stepped into the dungeons, they spotted the greasy hair boy sniggering at them, and Lily still giggling like mad. When they turned their heads, they saw the formidable figure of Professor Farnee advance on them.  
"POTTER! BLACK! LUPIN!" she spat. "This is the SECOND TIME IN A ROW that you have been LATE FOR CLASS!"  
All three gulped. James looked toward Lily, and she was still giggling uncontrollably, with two girls at her side, trying to calm her down but no avail. He looked toward Peter, but he just shrugged.  
"DETENTION FOR YOU NEXT WEEK!" she fumed. Then, she smirked and added, "Oh, and don't forget today's detention... 50 points off Gryffindor too! Now GO BACK TO YOUR SEATS!"

The three shuffled back to their seats obediently. James was not paying attention to Farty at all. He was thinking of how to cure Lily of her... happiness. It sounded really ironic, but it had to be done. It seemed odd that the incident hadn't been reported yet. He chopped his barnyard root half heartedly, and threw them into the cauldron, but he missed - it landed in Sirius's. Just then, Sirius's cauldron exploded, splashing the sea blue liquid all over Peter, who was working next to him. Peter immediately began to grow boils all over him, and Farty sent him to the hospital wing. (A/N: I _had_ to get rid of Peter as soon as possible!) Farty gave extra detention to Sirius, and gave him a new cauldron to work with.

After class, Sirius had to serve detention. As they passed each other after class, Sirius hurriedly whispered to him, "Meet in the Common Room at 11pm." James nodded, and rushed off to The Great Hall to tell Remus the news.

***

Once he reached The Great Hall, the greasy haired boy came over to him and sneered.  
"Late again huh? Farty shouldn't have just taken away 50 points, you know..."  
"Shut up, Snape," growled Remus. James still could not take forget the fact that his best friend reminded him of a werewolf. Of course, it is impossible for Remus to be a werewolf, but he still couldn't take that thought away from his mind. He frowned, realising that his friend just called the greasy haired boy by name. He hurriedly whispered, "How'd you know his name?" "I overheard it... his name's Severus Snape... suits him, don'tcha think?" he replied.  
"Ah so... Lupin sticking up for his bestest friend, huh?" he sniggered.  
"Bug off, Severus..."  
"Oh, and why should I? It's fun you know... teasing the most mischievous boy in school. Where's your best friend, Black? Oh! I forgot... he's serving _detention_!" Snape said "detention" as if it were vulgar. (A/N: Actually, "detention" _is_ vulgar, but nevermind.)  
"Just GET AWAY okay? You're really bugging me."  
Snape just put his hands up, as if surrendering and said, "Okay, man... I'm bugging off, right? Just watch your pansy little ass..." Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Lily laughing like a mad man (or should I say, mad lady).  
James just stood there, arms folded and furious. What had he done to Snape? Nothing! He's just bugging him for no damned reason. "Pathetic fool..." James muttered under his breath. Shaking his head, he tucked into dinner. Just the taste of roast beef made him forget everything that had happened so far - that was how delicious it was.

After dinner, everyone went back to their common rooms. Realising that Sirius was not back yet, he told Remus to get the library book from the boys' dormitory, while he went to gather the ingredients.

***

Time passed quickly, and it was 11 by the time Sirius got back. He was panting and perspiring. "What'd they _do_ to you?" Remus asked. "Don't talk about it..." Sirius muttered. James, sensing that the two were just about to have a fight, quickly said, "I think we should start, yeah?" The others nodded, and reached for the ingredients. As Sirius was very agitated by the time he came back from detention, he wanted to get this potion making done as quickly as possible - potions reminded him of Farty, which reminded him of detentions and point deductions. He stirred the potion as fast as he could, waiting for the green liquid to turn crystal clear. Suddenly, the contents of the cauldron just burst out of the cauldron, emitting a loud, resounding "boom!". It was fortunate that Remus had put a sound-proofing spell around the room before doing the potion. "It's unstable, Sirius... just bear with it for this moment, okay?" Remus said, and they started cleaning up. "It's lucky the cauldron didn't explode... I don't have any more, heh." Sirius said. After cleaning up, they started to make the potion again. It was lucky that they were just beginning, if not, there would not be enough ingredients for the potion. (A/N: I'm tired. *wipes sweat from brow* 'Swhy I don't want to go through the whole explanation of how they made the potion. *continues to type*)

Finally, after 4 hours of brewing, Sirius held up the liquid in a small bottle.  
"We've done it!" he cried.  
"Did he just go crazy?" Remus whispered to James. James nodded his head.  
"I think." He smiled.  
"I think we better go rest... you look horrible, Sirius."  
"You don't want to know what they did to me..." Sirius muttered, and trudged upstairs to the boys' dorm, leaving the two to clean up.  
"Geez... how inconsiderate."

***

The next morning, the three (Sirius recovered from his delirious state) waited for Lily to go down for breakfast before going down themselves.  
"Sirius, why don't you offer the potion to Lily since you have a... erm... _crush_ on Lily?" awsked Remus, smirking.  
Sirius blushed. "No, I _do not _have a crush on Lily!"  
"Just do it... it'll save us all the trouble!" pushed James.  
"Oh all right!" Sirius said, reluctantly agreeing.  
"This should be easy though, considering the crazy state she's in," James said, sniggering.  
"Shut up..."  
"Aww... Sirius standing up for his girl..." James smiled.  
"Just shut up, okay?"  
"So you know your mission?"  
"Yeah yeah... I know, mummy." Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

Remus and James sat down and started gorging themselves, while Sirius stepped forward and offered Lily the glass of liquid. He blushed as he handed her the glass of "water".  
"Lily?" Sirius said after clearing his throat. Lily looked up at him, and started giggling.   
"Yeah?"  
"Um... a glass of water, if you want."  
"Okay! Thanks!" said Lily, as she slurped the "water" down hurriedly.

* * *

Author's Note *again?*  
I LEFT ALL OF YOU AT A CLIFFHANGER! I AM SO EVIL! *laughs* So what will happen to Lily? Watch out for the net part! PLEASE REVIEW! I'm going down on my knees and begging! If you want to keep yours private, you can email me at [aphro3214@hotmail.com][2] to give me comments. 'Kay? ~ Khaki

Short Survey  
Can you please answer in your review whether you like short (0kb - 10kb) or long (11kb - whatever) fics?

   [1]: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=directory-authorProfile&userid=29278
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